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Monday, April 13, 2015

すぎ本 (Sugimoto in Nakano)

らぁ麺 すぎ本

I have a list of shops to visit, sitting at 29 at the time of writing. It was 30, but I finally made it to Sugimoto. This one was for a TV shoot, and they insisted on visiting somewhere I hadn't been. This is a risky move, as I refuse to lie on TV if bad ramen is put in front of me. Luckily, Sugimoto was recommended by one of Tokyo's top ramen chefs, Miyazaki-san over at Soranoiro, and his stamp of approval is powerful.

Special shio ramen. This one promised to be topped with extra chashu pork, an egg, and some of the shops homemade wontons.

Yep, a simple, yet perfect bowl. This is the trend these days. Overly simple clear broth, meticulously created to be at a maximum level. The master trained at Shinasobaya, the shop made famous by late ramen master Sano-san.

Love those eggs! Good eggs are kind of normal these days, but these seemed better than average. Turns out they are hard-to-procure Nagoya Cochin chicken, considered some of the best in Japan. The cost of these eggs are very high, and the master told me that he pretty much breaks even with these.

Of course, the shop has a shoyu ramen as well, and tsukemen, which is all good I assume.

Even though the Seibu-Shinjuku train line sees very few sightseers, the ramen on this line is amazing. Shichisai, Hanamichi, Muteppo, and now Sugimoto sit very high up on my list of favorite shops.